portfolio
Braden Timss // Designer, Writer, QA Analyst, Teacher // Contact Me
My name is Braden Timss. I am a games industry professional living in Bellingham, WA with more than three years of experience, seeking opportunities for design work in studios interested in fostering new talent in traditional design disciplines. I have a diverse professional background, which informs my taste as a designer concerned with the overlap between narrative, architecture, and level design. I want my next career move to provide me with opportunities to contribute to the creation of fun and emotionally resonant experiences that players will not soon forget.
I have experience in many aspects of design, having written works of fiction and criticism, created levels for videogames, orchestrated narrative events for thousands of players to enjoy, and shared many a table with friends as GM.
Education
2020—2022
Masters of Arts, English Literature
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
Work Experience
2025—Present
Live Ops Event Designer
Rec Room
2022—Present
QA Anaylst
Rec Room
2021—2023
Academic Journal Editor for Game Studies Publication
Press Start
2020—2022
Instructor of Compostion and English 101
Western Washington University
Projects
Live Events at Rec Room
War of the Harvest Nobles (2025) / Writing, Design / Competitive Leaderboard Roleplay Event
Activations for Ego Potions & Glitch Grenades (2025) / Writing / Viral Marketing Event
Shady Deals (2025) / Design / Mobile Hidden Store
Level Design
You Are the Inch Valley Captive (2024) / Quake (1996) / Singleplayer
Nameless Revenge (2023) / Quake (1996) / Singleplayer
Published Criticism and Reviews
"A Ride Through the Objective Field of Passion"
Unwinnable Monthly, cover feature for Issue #160
"Trace Then Describe" a book review of Brendan Keogh's A Play of Bodies: How We Perceive Videogames
noescapevg.com
“A Failed and Unintelligible Analogy: The Phenomenology of Virtual Space in Kitty Horrorshow’s
ANATOMY"
First Person Scholar
Presentations
“Time and Timelessness in Virtual Space"
2022 PAMLA Conference, in the session on Video Game Studies
“Approaching Videogame Textuality via Autobiography: Written Let’s Plays and Ben Abraham’s Permanent Death"
2021 PAMLA Conference, in the session on Video Game Studies
Media
Maps for RPGs
Designed for D&D. Two-level dungeon with social factions, and inhabited and abandoned regions.
Designed for D&D. A deadly dungeoncrawl with puzzles.
Designed for D&D. A small introduction to the stakes of B/X dungeoncrawlling.
From a WIP design for Call of Cthulhu. Historically researched settlement map, home to PCs, NPCs, and a dark conspiracy.
Play-By-Post GMing
Giving over the reigns to players to narrate outcomes in Toon RPG.
Using low rolls not to punish but to create complexity in Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons
Encouraging exciting dynamics of tension through dice outcomes in Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons
Level Design Sketches
Development sketches for my Quake map You are the Inch Valley Captive
For Amnesia: The Bunker. A fusion of my learnings studying 80s dungeoncrawls and survival horror games.
Images from a work-in-progress single-player Quake level.